Thoughts on Last Week’s Fringe “Everything In Its Right Place”

I’m back to talk about this past week’s Fringe and trying out a slightly different format for the week. We’ll see how it turns out. I might go back to the previous format going forward… not sure. Anyway, here are some thoughts on last Friday’s episode “Everything In Its Right Place” (Spoilers for the episode follow, so make sure you have watched before you read on):

So for the past few weeks, Blue Lincoln has been having a hard time over here. Heartbroken when Olivia pairs up with Peter again. Gets knocked around and infected by a big old flying porcupine man. And feeling like he was on the outside of the little family group that our Fringe team had been gelling into. I said last week there must have been some reason for all this. Surely they were going somewhere with the way the writers having been picking on poor Lincoln. And he gets the focus here in this week’s episode. Lincoln jumps at the opportunity to head to the other side and get away from things over here for a bit. He was initially just taking Astrid’s place to give a debrief of sorts to the opposite Fringe team, but when a case pops up he ends up sticking around to help out.

We really haven’t gotten to spend much time over in the red universe this season, so it was a lot of fun to get to hang out over there for most of this episode. We got to see some more of those little differences between the two universes that are so much fun. Video playing newspapers, the USSR and Fillmores are amongst the things that we are treated to in this week’s episode. But we also get to see what has been happening over there while we have been on the other side for most of this year. One thing we find out is that the world is healing. I was a little taken aback by this revelation. Coming into the season, I thought we’d be seeing the two sides work together to help bring this about, but that wasn’t really the case. We just sort of find that it has been taking place as ambered zones are being opened up again. And we find out that the Fringe team from our side is also looked at as heroes over there for their role in this healing process (which is kind of neat actually).

One of the main advantages to being on the other side is that we get to spend some time with characters that we got to know so well last year. Of course, due to the changed nature of the timeline they are a bit different but it is still nice to see them get some extended screen time again. With the focus on Lincoln this week, we get a lot of the two versions interacting. They swap stories as they try to figure out exactly what made them turn out so differently. Ultimately it seems that they themselves were what caused their differences and not outside factors. When they were trying to figure this out over the radio, it seemed a bit absurd, but Bolivia was there to note that and tell the “girls” to keep it down. And it was fun seeing her again as well. Olivia’s alternate is one character who may have actually benefitted from her changes this season. I still would rather have the old version back, but we have no reason for ill will towards this one and can just sort of enjoy the fun lively attitude that Anna Torv brings to the character.

The case this week revolves around one of Robert David Jones’ new shape shifters. His name is Canaan (hopefully I am spelling this right) and he fits into the typical Fringe antagonist role in that he really isn’t such a bad person and at the very least has a reason to be doing what he is doing. And he mirrors some of the issues Lincoln is facing like the weekly cases often due for one main character on the show. He needs to keep switching bodies due to some issues with his transformation into his current form, but he has been taking out criminals instead of innocents. Blue Lincoln is the first to realize that it is the work of a shape shifter and helps the other Fringe team get him. And after a sniper is sent to try and take him out, Lincoln convinces Canaan to help them infiltrate Robert David Jones’ operation. This leads to the capture of Alt Nina and access to some of kind of tracking program for the various shape shifters. It looks like all of this will lead to the team finding out that Broyles is working with Jones and I like where these developments might lead.

And all of this made for a great episode. The thing that I conveniently left out of this discussion so far is the part that brought this episode down for me: the death of Red Lincoln. He gets hit by the sniper who is trying to take out Canaan towards the end and it leads to his death. I have to admit, I was angered by this and I am still upset about it. It seems the endgame for the way the writers have been treating Blue Lincoln was this. With Red Lincoln gone, he is going to work with Bolivia on the other side. So now he has a place to be which I get and can accept. But I am not a fan of the expense it came at. We got to know the Lincoln Lee character through Red Lincoln. That is the only Lincoln we knew before this season other than for one episode where the Blue version appeared. And to be honest, I am a bigger fan of the Red version as a character. It really stinks that we finally get to spend some time with him again (which we have done so little of this season) and he is gone now. I also don’t feel totally comfortable with Blue Lincoln replacing him in Bolivia’s life. I mean I can get behind them both losing their partners and replacing each other in that way, but if they get romantically involved it will be very strange to me. For a show that made a big deal about how love from the original timeline brought back Peter and set up Bolivia and Red Lincoln to have a relationship after the birth last season, I just can’t get behind them just sort of setting these two up together because they couldn’t end up with the others. It just feels weird. But we will have to see how this plays out first. Maybe the writers should have never made him have a thing for Olivia over here and then this never would have had to happen to find a place for him. He could have just been an extra agent on the team like Charlie was. I don’t know I’m just not happy with this particular direction.

A few more things:

The episode is bookended with a little bit of time with our main Fringe Team. Apparently it is grazing day for Gene which leads to a great visual of him in some FBI gear and a hilarious look from Broyles when he finds out what his team will be up to today. Also got a funny line at the end about how Walter is looking forward to studying Canaan before correcting himself and saying helping him.

I want to enjoy the Batman/Mantis joke, but Batman was featured in some of the comic covers in the “Over There” episode. Maybe I am supposed to believe that Mantis is just the bigger deal over there than Batman, but then why weren’t his comic covers on the wall? I don’t know, seemed like a slip-up (and maybe that I am thinking way too hard about it).

It is possible I might be less bothered with Red Lincoln’s death if it happened in a different fashion or was given more attention. Maybe didn’t happen off-screen. I am hoping his passing gets the attention it deserves in the coming weeks as I don’t think it got enough this week. Also the title is named “Everything In Its Right Place” and Red Lincoln is dead… brutal.

The sniper that was sent was awful. Bolivia on the other hand was awesome. Glad they put her sharpshooting ability to use.

“Everything In Its Right Place” was a very enjoyable episode for the most part. It was great to see the other side again which is always fun. I loved getting to spend some time with the alternate characters and Lincoln certainly deserved an episode focusing on him. I just can’t get behind them killing off Red Lincoln and that brings the episode down for me. I get they needed to find a place for Blue Lincoln (an issue the writers created themselves mind you), but I just don’t think this was the way to do it. Like a lot of things this season I will wait and see how this is handled going forward, but I am still a little miffed about it now. Hopefully this all has a big payoff as we approach the end of this season. Feel free to leave your thoughts on this episode in the comments below. I will be back next week with some thoughts on this Friday’s episode. Thanks for reading!